Vascianna trending upwards for World Juniors
Published:Monday | July 5, 2021 | 12:09 AMHubert Lawrence/Gleaner Writer
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Damion Thomas took gold in the 110m hurdles at the last World Athletics Under-20 Championships and the prospects for another medal-winning performance are trending upward. Vashaun Vascianna sparkled on Sunday last week at the National Junior...
Damion Thomas took gold in the 110m hurdles at the last World Athletics Under-20 Championships and the prospects for another medal-winning performance are trending upward. Vashaun Vascianna sparkled on Sunday last week at the National Junior Championships with two joint world-leading times, and his coach, Rahnsomn Edward, has given him the thumbs up.
Vascianna clocked winning times of 13.44 seconds in the heats and the final and booked his ticket to Nairobi, Kenya, and this year’s World Athletics Under-20 Championships. Asked after the final about Vascianna’s prospects for the August 17-22 event, Edwards remarked, “The performance at the Trials is a good performance. It has been a very challenging year. When he transferred from St Jago to Kingston College (KC), he had an injury, and we did a whole lot of rehab work, took him to the physiotherapist, several trips in the early mornings. We changed physiotherapists, and the issues were still there.”
Vascianna was one of the stars of the ISSA/GraceKennedy Boys and Girls’ Athletics Championships (Champs) in 2019, winning the Class Two 100m and 110m hurdles. With 2006 Commonwealth champion Maurice Wignall as his coach, he moved his own meet record to 13.26s. He later closed that campaign by helping St Jago High School win the 4x100m at the Penn Relays.
PRELIMINARY ROUND
A leg injury stopped his progress, and he subsequently moved to KC. He was unable to finish his preliminary round Class One 110m hurdles race at Champs in May.
Edwards, who coached Vascianna to a Class Two 110m hurdles record of 13.35 seconds in 2018, prior to his own move to KC, said that a dietary adjustment was central to the athlete’s recovery.
“We put a lot of protein in his diet, and it made a difference in the repairing of his muscle cells, and this 13.44s performance here, into a headwind, is not a true reflection of his potential,” Edwards said as Vascianna’s effort in the final came despite a headwind gusting at 2.3m per second.
The young hurdler also clocked 13.44s in the heats when the wind was whispering at 0.1m per second. Vascianna’s times matched a June 19 performance by Dutchman Mark Heiden. Tayleb Willis of Australia and Heiden’s compatriot Timme Foster have clocked 13.48s, Willis in April and Foster in the same race as Heiden.
Edwards is guardedly optimistic.
“I think that he has a lot more left in the tank, and with six or seven weeks left for the World Juniors in Kenya, the prospects are looking upward as long as we keep him healthy,” he said.
Success for Vascianna would mirror the 2018 success at the World Athletics Under-20 Championships when Thomas and Orlando Bennett captured the gold and silver medals in Tampere, Finland.